James Oberstar: “this brings us to the end of a very long and productive general debate period when we have heard fulsome praise for this…”

“this brings us to the end of a very long and productive general debate period when we have heard fulsome praise for this legislation from all sectors of this country, all spectrums of our society, from urban and suburban and exurban and rural America, from coastal and border America, from all spectrums, all aspects of the economic slices of our country. It has been very encouraging to see the enormous outpouring of support from Members across the body for a truly visionary piece of legislation. It does, indeed, do all these things that all of our colleagues have praised the legislation for. I have a few things of my own that are very special to me. We continue the Rails to Trails Program, continue the Bicycling and Pedestrian Walkways Program that has made it possible for more than 10 million Americans to buy bicycles, become bicyclists. I am an avid cyclist myself. I have pedaled over 2,100 miles on the open road last year. I want to see more people using bike to commute from home to work, as is done in Chicago. We preserve and continue the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program which, in Chicago, has enabled that city with wise use and wise investment of those dollars to improve its Air Quality Index over 15 percent in the 6 years of ISTEA.”